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MISSIONARY PAPER 



BY THE 




(3D' 
INT-umber Thirty. 








liENT 1864. 

FARIBAULT, MIKM3B0TA, 

LETTERS ON THE INDIAN SYSTEM. 

FARIBAULT, MINN- 
CENTRAL REPUBLICAN BOOK AND JOB OFFICE, 

O'BRIEN'S block, main stbeet. 

1864. 



£1* 

.Bit 



LETTERS: ON THE .INDIAN SYSTEM, 



LETTFR FROM MAJOR J. R. BROWK 



The following letter will be read with interest by all who 
have the welfare of the Indian races at heart. Major Brow^ 
lias lived in Minnesota for more than thirty years, and 
no man in the State has had better opportunities of becoming 
acquainted with the working of the present Indian system or 
of understanding better the capacities, wants and motives of 
the Indians themselves : 

Fort Abercrombie, January 26, 1864. 

Rt. Rev. Bishop, "Whipple, Sir: I have just read with much satis- 
faction your able appeal for a reform in our present Indian System. 
Before our settlements can advance with that security necessary to their 
prosperity, Government must make a radical reform in their system, or 
be at the expense of keeping a large military force constantly in advance 
of the settlements, to drive forward the Indians and keep them awa} r 
from all intercourse with the advancing tide of civilization. 

There is no doubt that to our present system may be attributed all 
the Indian troubles which have occurred since its adoption, and it may 
be b) 7- some thought strange that experience has not suggested and se- 
cured a reform long since; but look at the editorial in the St. Paul 
Press, noticing your appeal, and you find an opposition to it enforced 
by characterizing it as the result of "partiality to the Indian" which has 
led to "sweeping aspersions of the character of the men who happen to 
be connected with the Indian s} 7 stem in this State." The wrongs to 
which the Indians are subjected, and the blood which has been spilt 
upon our frontiers, at various times, under this system, arc not noticed, 
an .1 the editor refuses to acknowledge the existence of an}' necessity 
for reform. He tacitly admits that frauds may have crept into the In- 
dian Department ; but thinks that in "this wretched age of th. )ddy and 
ra cality and slander," no complaints should be made against these evils. 
He thinks that no one branch of governmental operations, and especially 
our mtercousc with the Indians, should be reformed alone. That would 



be an instance of partiality which the editor's idea of "equal privileges 
to all," could not tolerate. 

« Now, I admit that I am not endowed with the clear perceptive qual- 
ifications for which the editor of the Press is proverbial ; hence I can- 
not see in your "Appeal" any language that can be tortured into a 
"sweeping aspersion" of the character of any "of the men who happen 
to be connected with the Indian system in this State." Your quarrel 
is with a system, and not with men connected with it. When we charge 
that the present Indian system is responsible for the existing Sioux 
war which has deluged our frontier with blood, depopulated a vast por- 
tion of our State, and entailed the expenditure of millions of dollars, do 
we thereby asperse the character of the Superintendent and Agent who 
were acting under that system ? God forbid ! for I am satisfied that 
they are both faithful and efficient officers. 

But the editor of the Press is opposed to a reform of the system, and 
as he cannot refute your appeal by argument, he endeavors to effect the 
same object by proclaiming it to be "loose generalities of invectives," 
dic'ated by "an illusion common to the sanguine benevolence of inex- 
perience," which causes you to hope to "restore the red man to the 
blissful Eden from which the white man was long ago expelled for his 
sins." The Editor is an influential member of a class of men who have 
and who will oppose the necessary reform, from personal or political mo- 
tives, regardless of all consequences. 

There is another and still more numerous class who fail to see and 
realize the evils of our present system. They attribute all irregulari- 
ties in its working, not to the system as it is, but to man's incapacity 
to frame any system of any kind that will be free from imperfections. 
They know little and care less about the principles of the system or its 
details; but they know that under it, and within a short period of 
time, the Indians "have been removed from, and the Government has 
opened to settlement, a territory that constitutes several States of the 
Union, that have already become rich in agricultural, mechanical, com- 
mercial and mineral resources. The several Indian wars that have ac- 
companied the attainment of this territory they regard as entirely in- 
cidental and in no way chargeable to the system under which they arose. 

There is a third and very small class composed of those who have 
watched the workings and are familiar with all the features of the sys- 
tem They too know that the Indians have been removed from a vast 
territory that has been made rich through the agricultural, mechanical, 
commercial, and mineral resources it possessed, and they know what 
has become of the many numerous tribes that have given place to the 
approaching tide of civilization. They know that there is yet an im- 
mense country in the occupancy of Indian tribes, upon which ♦ tne two 
advancing waves of civilization, from the Atlantic and Pacific, are soon 
to meet and they desire to rescue the Indians that are in front of us 
from the horrible fate of those who have been removed from the land 
that is behind us. In this desire they are not "the dupe of their own 
feelings " but are actuated by a knowledge of the responsibilities of the 
Government, and a national pride, that would avert from the nation 
the stain of having willfully caused the extinction of a people who 
might by a slight national exertion have been made useful members of 



community. But although the injustice and homicidal tendencies of 
the present system is clear, and although Indian murders and Indian 
wars have attended it throughout, I have but little hope that it will be 
replaced by a just and wise policy, under which the ultimate civilization 
of our western tribes may be attained. 

Among the many obstacles in the way of such a reform, a belief in 
the incapacity of the Indian to assume and pursue the habits and life 
of civilization, is not the least formidable ; and, unfortunately, the late 
Sioux outbreak has strengthened that belief in the minds of many, 
owing to the fact that some of the Indians who were supposed to be 
advancing rapidly in civilization, were the most active among the Sioux 
in their attacks upon the whites. Yet this was the result of our pres- 
ent Indian system far more than the fault of the Indians. 

The Indian Department had exerted itself to the utmost extent of its 
capacity, under our present laws, for the agricultural improvement of 
the Sioux, and had it been able to secure the co operatition of the War 
Department to the extent necessary to meet its obligations, the trage- 
dies of 1862 would never have been enacted. 

Before an Indian can progress in civilization he must be released 
from the burdens, and as far as possible be detached froma^avage life. 

The Department realized this fact, and, to attain the object, required 
every Indian to part with his scalp-lock previous to receiving the dress 
of the white man and the necessary agricultural assistance. 

When an Indian parts with his scalp-lock, he, in the estimation of 
his tribe, unfits himself for the duties of a warrior, and if he abandons 
the chase and relies solely upon labor as a means.of subsistence, he de- 
grades himself to the level of a woman, and ceases to command respect 
and consideration among the tribe. 

The difficulties and dangers the Farmer Indians had to encounter 
they realized fully, but they had the solemn promise of the Depart- 
ment that they should be protected in the possession and security of 
their propert} 7 , and from all violence or interference from the Indians 
opposed to civilization. But the War Department, under our present 
system, is separate from the Indian Department, and the location of 
troops upon the reservations for the protection and security of those 
who had adopted and were desirous of pursuing an agricultural life, 
could not be obtained. The Indians looked in vain for that protection 
they had been most solemnly promised. 

This the Indians feared from the first, but their anxiety to change 
their habits and mode of life induced them to risk the result, but it was 
with fear and tremblings. 

White Dog was the first among the Sioux who parted with his scalp- 
lock. I assisted m that ceremony, and I subsequently adjusted the fatal 
white cap upon his head, preparatory to his execution atMankato, and 
I have no hesitation in saying that he exhibited more fear and anxiety 
at the first than at the subsequent ceremony. Yet the conduct of this 
man, and others similarly situated, who had endured the insults and 
submitted to the .pilferings and other depredations of the tribal Indians, 
for four years, without any departure from the habits and mode of life 
which led to these insults and depredations, is now regarded as an evi- 
dence of the want of the elements of civilization in the Indian character. 



6 

The Sioux farmers had done all they could do, and' much more than 
the most sanguine friends of the Indian reform had expected, while the 
Government had failed in its obligations, owing to a defect in our present 
system. The farmers, owing to a want of protection, were frequently 
subjected to insult and personal violence, in addition to the many dep- 
redations upon their property. Four men were, killed and several se- 
verely wounded, while I was Agent, because they had parted with the 
scalp-lock and adopted the habits and life of civilized men. 

The farmers knew themselves to be hated and despised by the the 
other Indians, and they had heard the threat openly made that when 
troubles did occur between the Whites and the Sioux the Farmer In- 
dians would be the first sacrificed. 

The massacres of 1862 burst upon the Farmer Indians as unexpect- 
edly as upon the whites. They knew themselves to be the immediate 
cause of the dissatisfaction of the tribal Sioux. They and their fami- 
lies were in the midst of the murdering Indians, and escape was impos- 
sible. Under these circumstances, is it strange that many should seek 
safety by joining the murderers with apparent sincerity, but, as I firm- 
ly believe, with a determination to do no injury to the whites. This 
is apparent from the fact that during the attack at Fort Ridgely'many 
balls were^jred into the roofs of the buildings, and during the battle of- 
Birch Cooley the tops of the Siblej' - tents were riddled with balls. I am 
to well aware of the precision with which an Indian uses his gun to 
believe they would have shot so wildly at the short range they fired, 
unless it was done intentionally. 

I said the Farmers knew themselves to be the cause of the dissatis- 
faction of the tribal Sioux, and there is no doubt of it. Let others at- 
tribute the dissatisfaction of these Indians to what source the}' deem 
proper; I am satisfied that it had its source and was nourished by the 
introduction of and adherence to a system of civilization on the reser- 
vations. 

The system previously pursued consisted in the expenditure of the 
agricultural and school funds, partly in the cultivation of land, the 
products of which, after securing sufficient for the employees, was given 
to the Indian. At the employees' houses, at both Agencies, a great 
quantity of provisions were cooked daily for distribution among the 
Indians. Under this arrangement a large number of the most worth- 
less Indians on the reservations were supported in idleness, at the gen- 
eral expense of the tribe. Still all this did not absorb the agricultural 
and School funds. And when a large amount had accumulated, the 
Indians demanded, and the Department acceded, to the distribution 
pro rata. 

When the improvement svstem was commenced in 1851), it was 
deemed necessary that the Indians should be induced to do their own 
work, instead of having white men employed to labor for them. This 
was made a prominent feature in the new system. The support of In- 
dians at a public table was discontinued, and those only who worked 
received provisions and other necessaries in compensation for the work 
they performed. As the number of Indian farmers increased the num- 
ber of white employees were decreased, and as the Indians progressed 
in the cultivation of individual farms the public farms were discontin- 



ued. Under this system the white employees were reduced from one 
hundred and eighty-three, employed in 1858, to nineteen at the time I 
was superceded, in May, 1861. Under this policy the agricultural fund 
was devoted to its legitimate object, the promotion of agricultural la- 
dor among the Indians, which never can be accomplished by the em- 
ployment of white men to do the work on the reservations. 

The working Indians being paid liberally for the labor they performed 
were enabled to subsist themselves and families comfortably, without 
resorting to the chase. They were provided with houses, cattle, agricul- 
tural tools, &c, and most of them were in the possession of g(fod farms, 
which were successfully cultivated by their own labor. They were 
much pleased with the change they had made in their habits and mode 
of life, and could realize the advantages of civilization. 

The change in the agricultural policy was highly unpopular among 
the opponents of agricultural improvement, designated blanket Indians, 
among whom were prominent the medicine men, the successful warri- 
ors, and other influential men among the lazy and worthless of the 
tribe. They saw the improvement in the condition of the farmer In- 
dians, but claimed that improvement to be at the expense of the tribal 
Indians. They saw the most industrious among the Sioux hunters, 
who were formerly enabled Jto make frequent feasts, to which the med- 
icine men and warriors were invited, abandoning the chase, neglecting 
councils and medicine feasts, and devoting themselves to, and degrad- 
ing themselves by, a life of labor. 

They believed, or pretended to believe, that they were defrauded of 
their interest in the agricultural fund. All had been promised houses 
and farms and cattle at the signing of the treaty, but instead of being 
furnished to the warriors and head men, they were given to special fa- 
vorites of the agent, who could be induced to degrade themselves, as 
Indians, and assume the dress and mode of life of a working man 
among the whites ; while they, the medicine men and warriors of the 
tribe, were not allowed any participation in the distribution of the ag- 
ricultural fund. A system so unjust and injurious they determined to 
overthrow at all hazards. They at first used ridicule, (a very effective 
weapon to use against an Indian,) but as that did not suffice to prevent 
a rapid increase of farmer Indians, they subsequently resorted to vio- 
lence, and, as I before stated, several sacrificed their lives, and others 
were severely maimed, in the cause of civilization. Still the farmer 
system progressed, and the numbers of the farmers continued to in- 
crease, and the opposition and dissatisfaction of the tribal Indians be- 
came'propportionably fierce and uncontrolable, and finally led to a de- 
termination to make a united effort for the destruction of every vestige 
of individual farming*upon both reservations. 

The hostility and dissatifaction of the tribal Indians was known to 
the Agent and to the farmer Indians, and I have no doubt that upon 
two occasions the contemplated outbreak was postponed through the 
exertions of the Government officials, who became acquainted with the 
designs of the tribal Indians in time to frustrate them. The origin, 
progress and extent of this dissatisfaction was known to the Indian 
Department, and it was urging upon the "War Department from time 
to time the necessity of locating troops at Yellow Medicine, in sufficient 



8 

force to overawe the tribal Indians, protect the farmer Indians, and 
preserve the dignity of the Government. Unfortunately these applica- 
tions were disregarded by the War Department, and the opposition to 
agricultural reform was allowed to progress until it produced the hor- 
rible and unprecedented massacres of 1862. 

In 1861, while at Washington, alter I was superceded as Agent, I 
made such representations to the Secretary of the Interior, of the im- 
minent danger of an outbreak among the Sioux, and the extent of which 
it would most probably be carried il once inaugurated, that he made 
a formal requisition upon the War Department for a regiment of cav- 
alry to be located upon the Sioux Reservations; but he was informed 
that the War Department had no cavalry or other troops to spare for 
that purpose.. 

The payment in 1862 was finally fixed upon as the time, and the 
Yanktonias and upper annuity Sioux, as the instruments for putting a 
quietus upon individual tarming among the Sioux. The Lower Sioux 
were the operators — intending to use the Yanktonias, Sissetons and 
Warpetons in the capacity of belligerents, reserving to themselves the 
position of peace-makers. The war for the Union, they believed, had 
so far depopulated the Western States, that troops could not be ob- 
tained promptly in numbers sufficient to overcome the outbreak ; and 
the services of the lower Indians would be so necessary and so highly 
appreciated by the whites as to secure to them any terms they might 
demand. 

Under this programme, I do not believe an open outbreak upon the 
whites was intended. The first attack was to be made upon the farmer 
Indians about Yellow Medicine, and if extended to the whites it would 
be only through the protection of their Farmer Sioux. The conduct of a 
few youngsters at Acton, however, precipitated the outbreak and 
changed its character. The goods and ammunition necessary to their 
success, which they at one time intended to buv with their annuities, 
they now determined to take by force, and the massacre of the traders 
became a necessary preliminary to the accomplishment of that object. 

The location of the outbreak which was originally intended to be at 
Yellow Medicine, was transferred to the Lower Agency, and the lower 
Indians who originally intended to direct the operations without ap- 
pearing to be connected with them, became the operatives and chief 
actors in the whole affair. 

The outbreak, as originally contemplated, was planned with great 
care ; and those plans were communicated only to the medicine men 
and warriors known to be firm in their opposition to the farming sys- 
tem. They would probably have been successfully carried out, had not 
the murders at Acton rendered it necessary to deliver over those mur- 
derers to the Government, or retain them by the opening of hostilities 
at once. The former policy was strongly advocated at the Rice Creek 
council, upon the plea that the outbreak should not take place until the 
annuity payments; but in opposition it was argued that the men would 
be removed beyond the reach of the Indians, and would be hung for 
the murders if delivered up ; and as the Government had taken away 
the last available man on the frontier to be sent South for soldiers, the 
Indians were capable of sustaining themselves against any force that 



9 

could be brought against them at present, and the course adopted by 
the Government in connection with the Inkpaduta massacre, was cited 
as evidence, that if ever the Government should be in a condition to 
pursue and punish the Sioux it would be some time in the future, when 
the transaction would have been forgotten, and the whole difficult}'' 
could be arranged under a treaty by which the cause of all their griev- 
ances would be removed. In the mean time the former system would 
be as effectually disposed of as if the farmers themselves were killed 
in the outbreak. 

The change of programme prevented the contemplated attack upon 
the farmers ; but is it strange that a portion of thtss people, knowing the 
enmity of the murderers toward themselves, should have lacked the 
courage necessary to sustain them in a position of hostility to numbers 
far exceeding their own ? The safety of themselves and families they 
hoped to purchase by joining the raid with a profession of sincerity 
they did not feel, and with a hope that they might eventually escape 
from the camp of the murderers. * 

But while many of the Farmer Indians were induced, for self-preser- 
vation, to accompany the tribal Indians in their raids against the 
whites, it is gratifying to know that there were also many who stood 
up manfully against the progress of the raid ; and I most heartily join 
you in a denunciation of the treatment they have received. If my 
memory serves me, every influential man sent to the Missouri last 
spring were Farmer Indians, who had been tried and honorably ac- 
quitted by the military commission, or whose conduct had been such 
that no evidence could be found upon which to base a charge. Many 
of them had put their own lives in imminent peril to protect the white 
captives, and all had more or less contributed to the ultimate release of 
these captives ; and when we consider their conduct, in connection 
with the circumstances and influences which surronded them, I think 
it should elicit the highest commendation. Justice, as well as good 
policy, should have dictated a different fate from that which located 
them at a point on the Missouri, where an ineffectual attempt to culti- 
vate the land was made years ago by a small band of Yanktonias, un- 
der the auspices of a trader located near the mouth of Crow Creek. — 
Their crops of corn and other vegetables failed two or three years in 
succession, and they became discouraged and abandoned their agricul- 
tural enterprise in that vicinity. The crops put in for the Sioux last 
year failed entirely, and the Indians have suffered much for want of 
food since they reached their new location. Other crops will most 
probably fail four years out of every five in the future, and the Indians 
will be subject to frequent sufferings in consequence. 

Most of these Indians had good farms, good houses, and all the requi- 
sites for a successful agricultural life, upon one of the reservations. — 
They were in no manner responsible for the outbreak ; they committed 
no depredations against the whites, but labored to check depredations 
to the utmost of their ability. They proved themselves true to their 
attachment to the whites ; and they deserved to be secured in the pos- 
session of their farms and houses on the Reservation. But justice was 
deaf as well as blind when their fate was decided. 

The history of the Sioux for the past thirteen years would afford a 



10 

profitable study for those who think our present system a good-enough- 
Morgan to meet the necessities of government. Within that period the 
treaty of 1851 was made, at the making of which the Indians were 
promised everything in reason, and out of reason; to obtain their signa- 
tures. The treaty was ratified, and when the Indians received the first 
payment, they found the amount they received pro rata was much less 
than they had been led to expect. The land they reserved in making 
the treaty was taken from them in its ratification and other lands prom- 
ised in lieu. The "other lands" ^were not provided for them as prom- 
ised, and lor four years they were without a reserve; and their agricul- 
tural and school funds remained in the hands of Government. Congress 
then passed a law permitting them to occupy their original reservations, 
but not until 1850 was it definitely decided whether it belonged to 
them or not. In the mean time farms were opened by the labor of 
white men, and the encouragement of the Indians in the habits of lazi- 
ness progressed until 1859, when a sj^stem for the agricultural improve- 
ment of the Indians, by which they should be induced to do their own 
labor, was inaugurated. 'The imperfections in the laws governing our 
intercourse with the Indian tribes led to a failure to obtain the troops 
necessary to protect the policy of the Department, and the result is too 
well known. The capacity of the Indian, however, for civilized life, 
and their desire for its adoption, was clearly established, and a proper 
system is alone requisite to insure the ultimate civilization of the en- 
tire Indian population. True, the change of policy, when attempted 
among other tribes, will meet with the same opposition from the same 
class of Indians ; but the establishment of a government for the protec- 
tion of the persons and property of the farmers, and the prompt pun- 
ishment of all depredations, would relieve the farmers from all danger, 
and their prosperity would eventually lead the most bitter opponents 
of the policy to become partakers of its benefits. 

I have noticed the deceptive promises made the Sioux to induce them 
to sign the treaty of 1851. It is simply the history of all Indian trea- 
ties. To make a good bargain is a Yankee virtue, and it has been the 
object of heads of departments and bureaus, as well as of the commis- 
sioners sent to negotiate treaties, to obtain a large quantity of land for 
a small compensation. This is dishonorable as well as dishonest, where 
it is the act of a government regarding the Indians as wards incapable 
of self-protection. 

As long as the treaty system is continued, so long will the Indians 
continue to be coerced and defrauded in their negotiations. To remedy 
this evil let Congress do at once, and openly, what has been done in 
detail and covertly, assume the control and disposition of all Indian 
lands, regardless of the claims of Indians to it. Let suitable reserva- 
tions be at onee set apart for each tribe, keeping the reservations fcr 
each tribe as far apart as possible. Have the reserves divided into 
suitable farms of eighty acres each, to be secured to each head of a fam- 
ily, under certain restrictions; but let the patent by which this cession 
is made be as irrevocable and binding as any patent by which the Gov- 
ernment cedes land to a white man under the pre-emption or any other 
law of Congress. Upon each reservation place a military force adequate 
ito overawe the surrounding roaming bands and to protect the Indian 



11 

settlers from all depredations, as well as to enforce the laws and regu- 
lations for the Indian settlers themselves. Let this military force he 
subject to the call of the agent at all times, holding him responsible for 
the necessity or propriety of the call. 

I would not, as you propose, burden the Indian system with a Gov- 
ernor, for each reserve, lor judicial or other purposes. I would have 
all offences promptly tried by a military tribunal, to be composed of 
one or more officers of the force located on the reservation, and I would 
have the offences as promptly punished through the same military 
power. I would divest the tribunal to try Indians of all strategetic ar- 
guments and quibbles attending our civil courts, by which an offender 
may escape punishment. Nothing promotes crime among Indians more 
than for an offender to escape who feels himself deserving of punish- 
ment. 

Each head of a family, or single man, who would exchange the sav- 
age for civilized life, I would locate upon a farm, and I would furnish 
him with such material as he could not procure, and such labor as he 
could not perform, for the erection of buildings and th.3 opening of lands 
for cultivation ; all labor that he could perform I would require from 
him, and pay him liberally for it, in provisions or such other articles 
as were necessary to his comfort. An Indian cannot abandon the 
chase and devote his time to labor, unless by lhat labor he can subsist 
and clothe himself and family. All goods and provision should be iur- 
nished the Indian farmer at its actual co'st at the agency, and all the 
surplus products of his farm should be purchased at a fair and liberal 
compensation. Farmers cannot prosper until they have a market, and 
the Government should provide a market for the Indian farmer, located 
far in the interior where all the markets are be}~ond their reach. The 
produce of the Indian farms would be necessary for the support of a 
military organization on the reservations. No trader should be permit- 
ted to locate on any reseeve. Experience teaches that the trade in furs 
cannot promote Indian civilization. 

There should be no money or other annuity payments to the Indians. 
All appropriations for the Indian tribes should be dedicated to their le- 
gitimate object — the agricultural and mechanical improvement and 
civilization of the Indians. They should be expended in the compen- 
sation of the Indians for their labor, and the supply of agricultural and 
building materials and the support of an educational system. The mer- 
itorious alone should reap the advantages resulting from governmental 
appropriations; and if those appropriations are properly directed, they 
will, in a comparatively short period of time change a numerous body 
of human beings from roaming savages to enlightened, useful, and 
prosperous members of community. Those Indians who might at first 
refuse to join, or openly oppose, the improvement Indians, should be 
allowed to roam over the unoccupied lands, dependent wholely upon 
their own resources, until the success and prosperity of the farmers, 
the decrease of game for their subsistence, or the approaching tide of 
civilization, should induce or drive them to join the farmers of their 
tribe in a permanent location upon their reservation. 

The roving Indians should be promptly punished for all depredations 
upon the property or persons of the whites and firmer Indians. They 



12 

should understand that the land they occupy belongs to the whites, 
who must not be interrupted in their locations upon or their passage 
over or into it. Under this system there is no doubt that the roving 
bands would rapidly decrease in numbers, while the farmer Indians 
would as rapidly increase, and ultimately all would become permanent 
settlers upon the reservations. A great impediment to Indian civiliza- 
tion is the encouragement now given to roving and lazy life under the 
present annuity system. 

In your plan for an educational system, I observe that you subscribe 
(rather under protest, I admit,) to the plan of instructing only in the 
English language. To this I have always been and still am opposed. 
I believe that every Indian tongue is susceptible of being written, -and 
I know that scholars will advance a thousand fold more rapidly, if 
taught in their own language ; and I would be just as well satisfied 
with a good citizen in Sioux, Chippeway or Winnebago, as in German, 
Norwegian or English. I do not wish to be understood as being op- 
posed to giving an Indian an English education, but I do not deem that 
a necessary preliminary step to their advance in civilization, I would 
not put buckskin wings upon the catterpillar, but await the transforma- 
tion of the ugly worm into a beautiful butterfly through the operation 
of natural laws. Let the Indians be educated first in their own lan- 
guage, and while you are teaching them to read, teach them the arts, 
customs, and duties of civilization. A well organized and properly 
onducted manual labor school, is the good land upon which the seed 
of Indian civilization should be- dropped. 

I like your proposition for a Board of Visitors to examine into the 
affairs of each agency, but I am opposed to their exercising any control 
of the appointment or operations of the employees, for the faithful per- 
formance of whose duties the Agent alone is responsible. Take from 
the Agent the appointing and discharging power over the employees, 
and you strike a fatal blow at his effective control over their duties and 
operations. The facility afforded the Agent in the successful discharge 
of his duties by the employment of competent and faithful subordinates, 
is the best guarantee for a proper selection of those subordinates. 

I cannot close, lengthy as my letter has become, without referring to 
a very important subject in connection with our intercourse with In- 
dian tribes, whether under our present or any other system. I refer to 
the employment. of Indian Interpreters. The salary at present allowed 
that officer is four hundred dollars per annum, out of which he is ex- 
pected to feed and clothe himself (and family if he has one) far remote 
from markets and where he must pay exorbitant prices for all the nec- 
essaries of the table or the wardrobe. 

This salary^is entirely inadequate to the responsibilities of the posi- 
tion. Where Jhe Agent does not speak the language of the Indians of 
his Agen?y (which is the case in nine cases out of every ten) his ears 
must be on the head and his tongue be m the mouth of the Interpreter; 
and in all his intercouse with the Indians he is at the mercy of the In- 
terpreter. Therefore upon the integrity and ability of the Interpreter 
depends the success of all negotiations or other intercourse between the 
Agent and the Indians, and in a great measure the peaceful relations 
between the Indians and the whites. 



13 

A man possessing the integrity of character and th.3 knowledge of 
both languages necessary to qualify him for the responsible position of 
Government Interpreter, can readily obtain fiom 600 to 1,000 dolUri 
and board per annun from any trading firm in the country, and hence 
the honest, faithful and influential Interpreters are employed in the 
trade and the Government can only secure the services of such as the 
traders will not employ ; therefore whenever the duties of the Agent 
are in conflict with the interests of the traders, he is invariably circum- 
vented in all his plans. This accounts for the fact that the traders 
wield a controlling influence over the Indians. 

The Government should provide a compensation that would secure 
the best men in the country for Interpreters, and the Agent himself 
should be able to converse freely with the Indians around him, as in no 
other way can any man become acquainted with the peculiarities of the 
Indian character. 

I agree with you fully that no Agent should be removed except for 
cause. His position should put him entirely outside of all political in- 
fluences. It is a mistaken idea that the President's commission in it- 
self endows a man with the necessary knowledge and experience to 
enable him to understand and properly control the Ii dian character. 
To obtain that knowledge and experience requires years of close study 
of their partialities, habits and customs, with which the Agent must be 
acquainted, if he hopes to prosper in the overthrow of those partiali- 
ties, and elfect a change in their habits and mode of life. 

Under the present system, just as an Agent becomes familiar with his 
duties and responsibilities, and becomes capable of their performance, 
the administration changes, a new man is appointed, and the Indians 
find themselves without an Agent of experience in whom they can con- 
fide. Consequently our Indian tribes are about three* years out of every 
four under the control and guidance of incompetent Agents. 

There is nothing that will promote the success of the operations of 
an Agent in a greater degree than for the Indians to be able to commu- 
nicate directly in person with him. They have a greater regard for 
the same words falling from the lips of the Agent in their own language 
than if they reached them through the medium of an interpreter. — 
Then, again, when an Agent is conversant with the language of his In- 
dians, he gets hold of many ideas, wants and agitations among the 
Indians that are not likely to reach him through an Interpreter. 

I have written, sir, much more at length than I at the outset con- 
templated, but the subject is one in which I have for many years felt a 
deep interest, and as I progressed, details presented themselves which 
I could not well pass over. To-day I am as well satisfied of the capac- 
ity of the Indians for all the duties and requirements of civilization, as 
1 was twelve years ago, when I wrote a series of articles for the Pio- 
neer upon the subject. In fact tne experience of the past few years has 
confirmed me in the position I originally held upon the subject. Yet 
I am writing without hope that a proper change will be made in our 
6ystem to secure the object we both so anxiously desire. 

I have been conversant with the many outbreaks of the Indians, and 
the massacre of our settlers, during the progress of civilization along 
the upper Mississippi valley. All these outbreaks and massacres may 



14 



JS5^a to pSte^^^ <*««»-. of Gov- 
Yet no r,dical change has been mide to ZLfiF" *&" SyStem '~ 
eminent has steadfastly adhered to the n r F* ™% and the Gov - 
the punishment of offeW, Instead ^ V f c ?P endi "g aliens in 
. iture of thousands S^jS^Sfig"* ^ ^ "" ™ P ™ d - 

hav:ol^redwhifi a n d r;e?v d fet t ve'r SaCreS ' 0n "" JB T^ «"* 

•securely, and the Indians would Ce been , v^'° e Pr ° Spe ''° Usl - V and 
with a rapidity and nrosnentv tw H ? v0 = ress ' n g >" civilization 

*i d and rev'in^lSrSiXmStar 1 ' " ' *" "*» h "» Ieft no 
I remain, Sir, very respectfully, 

JOSEPH R. BROWN. 



LETTER FROM REV. S. D. HINMAK. 



The following letter of Mr. Hinman, our devoted Dacotah 
Missionary will inform our friends of the sufferings of our 
Door Christian Indians among the Sioux. I have conversed 
with many of the soldiers who went as the escort of the Min- 
nesota train and they all agree as to the worthless character 
of the country and the pitiable condition of the Christian 
Indians. Surely one may tremble when he remembers that 
the day is coming when the righteous judge shall say ''Inas- 
much as ye did it to the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me :" 

Fort Thompson, D. T., Jan. 15, 1864. 

To Rt. Kev'd Bisnor Whipple, D. D., 
Faribault, Minnesota. 

My Dear Brsnop : — I write to you again because T know your heart 
is with us, and that you long for the welfare of } r our red children, both 
temporal and spiritual. I have been almost in despair, but to-day I 
write to you with a little more hope for the future. It is not any fall- 
ing away from the faith that I mourn over, nor any lack of interest in 
religious matters or services. We were never more blessed than at 
present. Thank God for this. But it is our awful situation — a desert 
as to location, starvation as to condition.^ As long as they remain here 
they must be fed, both winter and summer, at an awful expense, for 
the freight to this place- costs* as much as the articles transported. — 
The Government is now largely in debt for provisions used last fall. 
Again the Indians would be willing to transport themselves to their 
new home, and their baggage would be the only expense that the Gov- 
ernment need incur, aside from their transportation. They are willing 
to do this. I believe that the President and Commissioner Dole want 
to do right in this mattsr. I believe that a majority of our Northern 
Senators and Congressmen are, or mean to be, true philanthropists, in 
regard to all that are oppressed. This is in our favor. The Commis- 
sioner has said that if it were true that the country was as reported, 
had, the Indians should be removed. It is true, and toe ought to male 
Mm faioio it. It is a desert, and good for nothing, and even now the 
good timber is about exhausted. 

Now opposed to their present location there are two parties. The 
first is the Yancton Agent. He wants our : Sioux on his reservation 
below Fort Randall. His reservation is but little better than ours. — 
They raise corn there most years, but the principal argument in fa'vor 
of that location is that it is awayfrorn the hostile Indians. We arc 

*IIe might Lave said provisions cost much more. 



1G 



•almost in the midst of them and they come and go all the' while ind 
oar Indians are afraid of their lives; I mean ou? men who Ser te d 
themselves to oppose the outbreak in Minnesota. The plan correspond 
ing with his is for the Omaha Agent to take the AVinnebago P His 
reservation is the finest on the river, and is very nearly suchanon/ 
we had at Red Wood As another plan, it is pr^s^thlt L Gov rn 
ment shall buy one half of the Omaha Reserve for the Sioux and Win- 
nebago Indians The Omahas are a very small tribe and do not cu 11 
vate one-sixteenth part of their reserve. This concentrating of divers 
tribes is approved by the Secretary of the Interior in his report to Con- 
gress, and will I think favor the spread of Christianity among the In- 

Mk^ri f/ eSen f ° n ]S T h ? l0wSi l UX C,t ^ on the °PPOsite side of the 
Missouri. It is, as tar as I know, the only agricultural country about 
hei e or not m possession of the whites or hostile tribes. We could live 
m happiness and comfort in such a country as that 

fw nd iT r my - Dear Bish ° P > I wil1 show y° u wh Y ^e removal of 
these Indians is imperative. They cannot, they will not stay 

Tn^ll . TT £ ne_ A half the Winneba goes ran away to Fort 
Randall and the Omaha Agency, and they have never returned.- 
J^ven their payment and the distribution of annuity goods and the 
arrival of Col. Thompson's train could not induce them to return! 
Many of our own Upper Sioux have gone above, never to return, 
piefenngto take their chances among the buffalo hunting Sioux, to 
systematical starvation here. Wabashaw's band have gone to the 
Yancton Agency and many of the Wakute and Warpekutes are 
following. As soon as spring opens they will scatter all over the 
country. Many of them will go to the James or Sioux Rivers. Most of 
the Upper Sioux will go to the Coteaux des Prairies where Sibley's 
scouts are now stationed and where I am told they intend to plant next 
summer. Gen. Sibley I believe intends to build Forts there The Up- 
per Indians are in favor of that location as they are mostly Prairie In- 
dians. I presume that Standing Buffalo and his people will be sent to 
the same place it they come in. 

m In regard to the hostile Indians, the expeditions of last season have 
increased their number ten fold. The butchering of the women and 
children of a tribe not heretofore hostile, by the troops of Gen. Sully 
has or If maddened them and they are swarming about us like bees 
threatening vengeance in the Spring. They have openly declared their 
intention to attack tnis place early in the Spring. Those of the hostile 
Inmans who have been here openly declare this purpose. Those of our 
Indians who have been above have brought home the same word. They 
say they do not know that they can take our stockade, but that at least 
they can have their revenge. They can keep what few soldiers we have, 
inside the Fort and then they can murder the Winnebagoes and best 
men of flthe Sioux and complete their triumph by driving off the Sioux 
women and children into their own country. This plan, so plausible 
and probable in its details, keeps the Winnebagoes in terror and the 
Sioux in fear They are afraid to go out to hunt and consequently have 
to remain at home and suffer. The Yanctonnais have forbidden any of 
our Indians to hunt in their country. To cap all this the news now 
comes that there is to be no expedition next summer. The War De- 



17 

p:\vtincnt believes that the Sioux war is ended and consequently the 
whole border must, again suffer. For myself I ask nothing. I trust 
vou will see by this, indeed you cannot hut see, that the necessity of 
removal from this place is for every reason that humanity can suggest 
absolute, and that for the most weighty reasons it should be immediate. 
For these poor oppresst-d Indians, who now have lost heart and really 
believe themselves to be persecuted, I ask everything. They are enti- 
tled to the sympathy and prayers and influence of all Christian and 
philanthropic people; and if necessary the mountains must also be 
moved in their favor. Every man here, every soldier here, pities them. 
Why cannot the Government he brought to do at least such ^justice as 
humanity would dictate by them. To-day I desire but one thing — the 
happiness and salvation of my people. I have already given away ev- 
erything thai I have with me to feed and clothe these pedple or what 
few 1 can aid, and yet every day children are crying for bread and moth- 
ers are begging for them. I cannot bear it any'longer/and God willing 
I will be with you to say these things face to face by the last of February. 
It is proposed to persuade the Department to try this location anoth- 
er year, as this has been an unusual seasdn. ThisHvill be fatal to our 
Indians, as by another winter they will be in 'their gnives or scattered 
beyond hope of again collecting them together ; and so will be lost by 
neglect the best hope of civilizing and 'Christianizing the'Iridians, and a 
body 6.1" Indians who have proved their friendship to the whites under 
tbi' most trying circumstances and have been very far advanced in civ- 
ilization and Christianity IvilTbe driven to destruction by the remorse- 
less schemes of men 'whose 'hearts are laid up with their ill-gotten wealth. 
Forgive my sadness. At least you can pray for Us. God bless j^oufor 
comforting thesa in prison. 5 am well, and trusting in 'God have hopo 
for the future. 

I am, with touch affection, your son in the Gospel, 

BAMto'Et. I). HINMAN, 
Missionary to the Dakotas. 

These letters speak for themselves ; they must carry con- 
viction to every heart of the necessity of a radical change itt 
our Indian system, and of the duty we owe to humanity im- 
mediately to rescue these Christian Indians from aliving death, 

h. b. Whipple, 

Bishop of Minnesota. 



18 

BISHOP SEABITRY MISSION. -Incorporated May 22nd, 

1860. Trustees— Rt. Rev. II. B. Whipple, D. D., Rev. 

J. Lloyd Breck, 1). D., Rev. S. W. Manney, Rev. E. G. 

Gear, Rev. D. B. Knickerbocker, Rev. E. JP. Gray, Hon. 

H. T. Welles, Hon. E. T. Wilder, Gen. N. J. T. Dana, 

Rev. E. R, Welles, and C. W. Woolley, Esq. 
•Officers.— Rt, Rev. H.. 5. Whipple, President ; Rev. J. 

Lloyd Breck, Secretary and Correspondent ; Rev. S. W. 

Mann ey, Treasurer.. 

Divinity Department.— Rt. Rev. II. B. Whipple, D. D.* 
Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Eloquence ; 
Rev. S. W. Manney, A. M., Professor of Systematic Divin- 
ity and Acting Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Ex- 
egesis; Rev. J. Lloyd Breck, D. D., Professor of Biblical 
Literature and the Book of Common Prayer. 

Grammar School. — Rev. J. Lloyd Breck, Rector ; Rev. Geo.. 
C. Tanner, A. M., Professor of Mathematics and Lan- 
guages ; Mr. Hubbell, Teacher. 

Young Ladies' School. — Miss Hannah De Lancey and Miss 
S. P. Darlington, Teachers. 

Andrews' PIall,— Miss Susan Phelps, Matron; Miss Annie 
Bull, Assistant and Teacher.. 

Crow Wing Mission.— Rev. X Johnson. Enmegahbowh, 
Deacon. 

Dacotah Mission.. — -Rev.. S. Dutton Hinman, Missionary.. 



KINDS OF CLOTHING: NEED-ED FOR THE BISHOP SEABUBX MISSION. 



The* clothing most needed by this Mission is for girls be- 
tween the ages of fourteen and eighteen years, and for boys 
between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years.. A snuilL 
portion for children a few years younger, of both sexes, could 
be used profitably, and would be acceptable. Bedding 
of' all kinds, such as sheets, pillow-cases, blankets, quilts, 
comfortables, also towels would be very acceptable, and are 
much needed. Materials for clothing and bedding may also 
be sent. 



19 

FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE BISHOP SEABURY MISSION. 



I give and bequeath to the "Bishop Seabuky Mission," an 
Institution incorporated under the laws of Minnesota, for 
the spreading of the Gospel, the instruction of youth, and 
the education of young men for the sacred Ministry, the sum 
of . r to be applied to the general purposes 

of said Mission, or to the endowment of a Professorship or 
Scholarship in the Theological Department of the same. 



N". B„ Mr. E„ M. IhrxcAN, Ko. 763 Broadway, N\. Y., will receive and 
transmit moneys or material designed for this Mission. Also, James M. 
Aertsex, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa., J. Iv. Sass, Esq., Charleston, S. C, and 
Rev. J. A. Merrick, Paris,. Ky., kindly consent to act as agents. 

Boxes and parcels designed for the Mission, should be addresed Rev. J. 
Lloyd Breck, "Bishop Seabury Mission—care of North & Carll, Hastings, 
Minnesota, and sent by Merchants' Dispatch or Freight Lines. To pack, 
when practicable, in barrels, will save transportation expense. 

Theological works for the Divinity Department, as well as books in gen- 
eral for the Library of the Mission, are highly acceptable. Remittances of 
money by mail, should be m the form of a bank order on Hew York or 
Philadelphia. A deposit with any bank in the country will readily obtaia 
a draft to order on these cities. 







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